July 30, 2024 • 14 mins
Asking questions in a job interview is so important.
I know I’m stating the obvious, but just because something is obvious doesn’t mean people know how to do it—well!
Today, I’m gonna give you a triple-header of high-quality questions.
But, because I’m me and you’re you and you deserve more, I’m not just going to tell you what questions to ask.
Just because you ask a question and get an answer doesn’t mean you got THE correct information.
Or, know HOW to use the information.
So, for completeness’ sake, I’ll tell you what to ask, what information you need to make sure the interviewer provides, and how to use the information to score better and get paid more.
If you'd like to build a great career and lead a rewarding life, check out some of these other places where I share my teachings:
1. Check out the milewalk Academy, my coaching and training site, for freemiums and premiums.
2. I have hundreds of educational and inspirational videos on my YouTube Channel.
3. Grab any of my three books related to interviewing, hiring, and goal setting. All can be found on my Amazon Author Page.
4. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter (X), TikTok, Threads, and Facebook.
5. Stay in touch with me in your email inbox by joining my newsletter here!
--Andy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Three great questions you absolutely must ask in any job interview I'm going to tell you what they
are I'm going to tell you why we want you to ask them what information you should get and
how to use that information ultimately to not only score better in the interview get hired but also
get paid more these are three of the most potent questions you can ask in any any job interview
(00:24):
before we Dive Right into those is I want to I want to I want to Benchmark the group again I
think think I might put this this reminder in the beginning of every one of my videos from here on
out I I won't do that but it's this important so I want to start here for those of you that follow
me you know I say there are always five things that are present whenever you're interviewing
(00:45):
with a company whether the interviewer knows this or not but ultimately these are the five variables
that are at play that determine whether you get hired and what you get paid whether they call
them out or whether they're just operating them subconsciously but all employers have goals they
have problems a solution they think is going to fix their problems and achieve their goals
(01:09):
the profile of the individual who they think is going to fit and what that person costs there's
ideas about all of these as they reach out or they recruit individuals as individuals apply online as
as organizations assemble their organograms whatever it might be there are always these
things at play now now there are there are variations of these and there are variations
(01:34):
from the time you start the interview process to the time you end the interview process because
during those discussions throughout that entire interviewing process to the extent that you can
show them that you can accomplish their goals to a greater level or faster or cheaper or whatever is
going to raise your stock it's also going to raise your value the problems they have you want to be
(01:58):
clear on what those are and show them how you've solved those problems in the past or how you will
solve or overcome those challenges or issues in their environment in the future based on your work
history and also there's the solution that they think it's going to take in order to implement
the product fix the customer service issue improve their marketing whatever it might be now
(02:23):
the solution itself could be delivered faster it could be delivered cheaper it could be delivered
with a greater shelf life there's a number of things that can Al also change what that solution
is and the profile of the individual we think we need someone with 10 years of experience and so on
and so forth you might be able to show them that somebody with 20 years is even better because or
(02:47):
somebody with 5 years of experience can do this because and they might be thinking this person
costs $100,000 annually you might say I I'll take 70 I'll take 170 it dep depends on all these other
variables what they ultimately will pay based on the value you're going to contribute now I don't
want to go too much deeper than this today because I do have multiple videos out there where I take a
(03:13):
deeper dive into what these five variables are and how you can use them to your advantage throughout
the interviewing process one of the videos is I released this about a month or so ago if you're
here with me real time and watching this live what every job Seeker needs to know about negotiating
Sal salary you could tell I I I have I I have Ty bow sometimes when I write my my quote cards but
(03:35):
this one doesn't have a typ bow five ways to get paid more salary when interviewing both of these
videos are very good they've come out within the last seven eight months something like that and
you could take a deeper dive on how to use these five variables at play to your advantage to get
hired to get paid more now the reason I wanted to introduce this is because the questions that I'm
(03:56):
going to show you that I want you to ask are going to be aimed at some of these and how you might
be able to actually use that to your advantage so question number one that I want you to think about
and ask is what does success look like exactly meaning if I am to take this job or you're to
(04:18):
offer it to me and I am to take it what will I have done exactly in 6 months in a year whatever
the duration is for what it is they're hiring you to do and even if they're hiring you to do
a job that you you do every single day and you complete it every single day you still want to
know what success looks like so after I've been here for 3 months or 6 months or a year what
(04:40):
exactly does success look like if you're hiring me to implement this project what does success
look like does it look like an on time on budget project does it look like customers are happy does
it look like we've established more credibility within the organization or externally or whatever
it might be this is the leadoff question and the information that I want you to get in particular
(05:03):
is what areas of focus are we going to concentrate on in order to achieve that success so is it am I
man are you hiring me to run this project so I have to have a methodology to run the project
I actually have to run the project I have to build relationships with the stakeholders I
might have to hire a team all of those I might have to set up a a communication dashboard for
(05:25):
our Executives all of these things are the focus areas sometimes sometimes not always if you have
a job description these will be spelled out but it's really important that if you've got
a three-page laundry list of stuff they want you to do that you boil it down to the three to five
to six different areas that are most important and get it clear in their mind they know exactly
(05:50):
what you're going to be concentrating on what are the goals is the goal of the project to implement
it on time and on budget is it additionally to improve the customer Care's ability to
access customer records to solve problems faster what does that look like do we need to establish
credibility that what we're thinking in terms of the strategy and the road map related to this
(06:14):
project which is the first of uh of a series of of projects or events that need to occur do we need
to have an established credibility to make future sales so to speak or pitches of projects we want
to implement from a technological standpoint from a process engineering standpoint from a
product development standpoint from a marketing Innovation standpoint or whatever it might be is
(06:37):
one of the goals to establish credibility with the management team what does that look like so some
of the goals might be very specific you will have put this in on time in under a million dollars
and so on and so forth you will have achieved so many sales you will be able to close the
books within 3 days each month some of it might be specific some of it might be credibility we will
(07:01):
subjectively evaluate the level of clout that we now have because we're the IT department and
and we don't have much credibility because we've been bumbling up projects for the last few years
we need to reestablish that and earn the trust of the stakeholders so that they open up their
pocketbooks so we can fix some of this stuff for them whatever it might be next thing okay what are
(07:22):
my specific responsibilities that go along with that that that I'm going to need to be able to
do now now some some of this may or may not come right out in the response to your question but
these are the kind of things I want you to make sure you have in the wake of the question next
thing well what are the priorities what am I going to do first what am I going to do second and then
(07:43):
the other thing is in order for us to achieve that level of success what resources are you committing
maybe those are bodies maybe they're dollars and cents maybe there software packages maybe
they're training programs maybe it's recruitment time from the recruitment department or whatever
recruitment levels are needed in order to secure the right resources whatever it might be but these
(08:07):
are the areas that I would get that's question number one if they cannot tell you these things
it's frightening I would not want to be taken a job where I don't know how I'm going to be
measured or whether they know how I'm going to be measured they'll keep moving the goal Coast or
goalpost on you next thing so you've got first question question what does success look like
(08:32):
exactly next question what is the single greatest obstacle standing in our way our way our way right
sound like you're part of the team already what's the single greatest obstacle now if you go back
to the first card I showed you right success sounds like goals right these are our goals
(08:55):
we want Andy wants more more leads more people on his newsletter he wants them for cheaper he wants
them more like the demographic that typically buys his stuff that's my goal what are my problems I
don't have a marketing budget I don't know how to run Facebook ads whatever it might be what's the
single greatest obstacle standing in my way Andy puts out pretty good videos but his SEO is not
(09:16):
really great so not not a lot of people discover him that could be my single greatest problem I
don't know what my single greatest problem is I got a lot of problems but you're trying to get
at this information so pull it out of them what's the next biggest problem what's the next biggest
problem and you're asking these why because I want you to not only get the problems but I want you to
(09:41):
show them how you have already solved the similar types of problems that they just surfaced or how
you will solve those problems or will handle them in their environment and you might say well Andy
I'm asking questions should I interrupt my question asking and start talking about how
I will do that I don't care if you do it that if it's a conversation and you're kind of going back
(10:02):
and forth and the flow is good or if you're filing away this information for the next interview or
when you go talk to the hiring official's boss and you say well the hiring official said one of your
biggest obstacles is here's how I would solve it have you considered and so on and so forth this
is going to help them know that you're the right person because it isn't necessarily the person who
(10:26):
has the greatest skills or has the features so to speak that gets the job it's the person who
can articulate their fit and value but also can connect the dots for the employer that I can help
you solve those goals I've overcome the challenges that you are encountering or have encountered or
don't know how to overcome because the more the more of their specific problems you've handled
(10:50):
the more Bullseye like you look because there are a lot of people that have the requisite skills but
that all of those people can't articulate how they've actually use those skills to solve the
specific problems right they're answering generic interviewing questions you're going to get real
life data that is the more you can attack the greater the likelihood that you're going to
(11:11):
get hired because the more Niche you're going to look and more specific you're going to look to
them that you solve their exact issues okay then so we've got what the success look like what's the
single greatest obstacle standing in your way of achieving that success and then what would it be
(11:31):
worth to you and the company to have that success to achieve that goal to overcome those problems to
make your customers happier to make the internal board members stakeholders management team love
you more so this this one here is aimed at what worth value what's the value so I want you to get
(11:57):
specifically what is the value you it would be worth a million dollar in customer uh you know
re re um repeat customers it would be uh worth a million dollars in retaining customers it would
be worth whatever it would be it would help us secure future whatever get all the value that
(12:20):
it would be because you're going to make that the centerpiece of your counter offer when you
get the job offer because you're going to get the job offer when you get the job offer you're going
to be able to say you told me that was worth a million dollars you told me that if I sold $2
million that was a you know $50,000 in profit it was $500,000 in profit it's going to secure our
(12:40):
ability to it's going to make life easier for tangible intangible anything that you can grab
because this to me is playing chess right you're giving them to give you the answers that you
are then going to regurgitate back to them when you're arguing for how much you're actually worth
because they told you this was the value to them so if you're not sure what the value is you're
(13:03):
going to ask so when you get rolling remember just to recap this you've got goals problems solutions
profile and a cost if you want more on this right what every job Seeker should know about salary
negotiation check that video out as well as five ways to get paid more salary when interviewing so
(13:24):
that's the first thing first question you're going to ask is what does success best look like exactly
what is the single greatest obstacle standing in our way and what would it be worth to you and the
company to have that success kind of tight kind of quick kind of powerful so if you want more on this
I've got more videos on the YouTube channel on questions to ask in a job interview but I
(13:49):
think pound-for-pound and if you only had a couple minutes to ask the questions these are the three
I'd ask all right hope you enjoyed that if you did click the like button if you're here with me live
we're going to the chat if you're watching us on the recording I'll see you next week
Three great questions you absolutely must ask in any job interview I'm going to tell you what they
are I'm going to tell you why we want you to ask them what information you should get and
how to use that information ultimately to not only score better in the interview get hired but also
get paid more these are three of the most potent questions you can ask in any any job interview
(00:24):
before we Dive Right into those is I want to I want to I want to Benchmark the group again I
think think I might put this this reminder in the beginning of every one of my videos from here on
out I I won't do that but it's this important so I want to start here for those of you that follow
me you know I say there are always five things that are present whenever you're interviewing
(00:45):
with a company whether the interviewer knows this or not but ultimately these are the five variables
that are at play that determine whether you get hired and what you get paid whether they call
them out or whether they're just operating them subconsciously but all employers have goals they
have problems a solution they think is going to fix their problems and achieve their goals
(01:09):
the profile of the individual who they think is going to fit and what that person costs there's
ideas about all of these as they reach out or they recruit individuals as individuals apply online as
as organizations assemble their organograms whatever it might be there are always these
things at play now now there are there are variations of these and there are variations
(01:34):
from the time you start the interview process to the time you end the interview process because
during those discussions throughout that entire interviewing process to the extent that you can
show them that you can accomplish their goals to a greater level or faster or cheaper or whatever is
going to raise your stock it's also going to raise your value the problems they have you want to be
(01:58):
clear on what those are and show them how you've solved those problems in the past or how you will
solve or overcome those challenges or issues in their environment in the future based on your work
history and also there's the solution that they think it's going to take in order to implement
the product fix the customer service issue improve their marketing whatever it might be now
(02:23):
the solution itself could be delivered faster it could be delivered cheaper it could be delivered
with a greater shelf life there's a number of things that can Al also change what that solution
is and the profile of the individual we think we need someone with 10 years of experience and so on
and so forth you might be able to show them that somebody with 20 years is even better because or
(02:47):
somebody with 5 years of experience can do this because and they might be thinking this person
costs $100,000 annually you might say I I'll take 70 I'll take 170 it dep depends on all these other
variables what they ultimately will pay based on the value you're going to contribute now I don't
want to go too much deeper than this today because I do have multiple videos out there where I take a
(03:13):
deeper dive into what these five variables are and how you can use them to your advantage throughout
the interviewing process one of the videos is I released this about a month or so ago if you're
here with me real time and watching this live what every job Seeker needs to know about negotiating
Sal salary you could tell I I I have I I have Ty bow sometimes when I write my my quote cards but
(03:35):
this one doesn't have a typ bow five ways to get paid more salary when interviewing both of these
videos are very good they've come out within the last seven eight months something like that and
you could take a deeper dive on how to use these five variables at play to your advantage to get
hired to get paid more now the reason I wanted to introduce this is because the questions that I'm
(03:56):
going to show you that I want you to ask are going to be aimed at some of these and how you might
be able to actually use that to your advantage so question number one that I want you to think about
and ask is what does success look like exactly meaning if I am to take this job or you're to
(04:18):
offer it to me and I am to take it what will I have done exactly in 6 months in a year whatever
the duration is for what it is they're hiring you to do and even if they're hiring you to do
a job that you you do every single day and you complete it every single day you still want to
know what success looks like so after I've been here for 3 months or 6 months or a year what
(04:40):
exactly does success look like if you're hiring me to implement this project what does success
look like does it look like an on time on budget project does it look like customers are happy does
it look like we've established more credibility within the organization or externally or whatever
it might be this is the leadoff question and the information that I want you to get in particular
(05:03):
is what areas of focus are we going to concentrate on in order to achieve that success so is it am I
man are you hiring me to run this project so I have to have a methodology to run the project
I actually have to run the project I have to build relationships with the stakeholders I
might have to hire a team all of those I might have to set up a a communication dashboard for
(05:25):
our Executives all of these things are the focus areas sometimes sometimes not always if you have
a job description these will be spelled out but it's really important that if you've got
a three-page laundry list of stuff they want you to do that you boil it down to the three to five
to six different areas that are most important and get it clear in their mind they know exactly
(05:50):
what you're going to be concentrating on what are the goals is the goal of the project to implement
it on time and on budget is it additionally to improve the customer Care's ability to
access customer records to solve problems faster what does that look like do we need to establish
credibility that what we're thinking in terms of the strategy and the road map related to this
(06:14):
project which is the first of uh of a series of of projects or events that need to occur do we need
to have an established credibility to make future sales so to speak or pitches of projects we want
to implement from a technological standpoint from a process engineering standpoint from a
product development standpoint from a marketing Innovation standpoint or whatever it might be is
(06:37):
one of the goals to establish credibility with the management team what does that look like so some
of the goals might be very specific you will have put this in on time in under a million dollars
and so on and so forth you will have achieved so many sales you will be able to close the
books within 3 days each month some of it might be specific some of it might be credibility we will
(07:01):
subjectively evaluate the level of clout that we now have because we're the IT department and
and we don't have much credibility because we've been bumbling up projects for the last few years
we need to reestablish that and earn the trust of the stakeholders so that they open up their
pocketbooks so we can fix some of this stuff for them whatever it might be next thing okay what are
(07:22):
my specific responsibilities that go along with that that that I'm going to need to be able to
do now now some some of this may or may not come right out in the response to your question but
these are the kind of things I want you to make sure you have in the wake of the question next
thing well what are the priorities what am I going to do first what am I going to do second and then
(07:43):
the other thing is in order for us to achieve that level of success what resources are you committing
maybe those are bodies maybe they're dollars and cents maybe there software packages maybe
they're training programs maybe it's recruitment time from the recruitment department or whatever
recruitment levels are needed in order to secure the right resources whatever it might be but these
(08:07):
are the areas that I would get that's question number one if they cannot tell you these things
it's frightening I would not want to be taken a job where I don't know how I'm going to be
measured or whether they know how I'm going to be measured they'll keep moving the goal Coast or
goalpost on you next thing so you've got first question question what does success look like
(08:32):
exactly next question what is the single greatest obstacle standing in our way our way our way right
sound like you're part of the team already what's the single greatest obstacle now if you go back
to the first card I showed you right success sounds like goals right these are our goals
(08:55):
we want Andy wants more more leads more people on his newsletter he wants them for cheaper he wants
them more like the demographic that typically buys his stuff that's my goal what are my problems I
don't have a marketing budget I don't know how to run Facebook ads whatever it might be what's the
single greatest obstacle standing in my way Andy puts out pretty good videos but his SEO is not
(09:16):
really great so not not a lot of people discover him that could be my single greatest problem I
don't know what my single greatest problem is I got a lot of problems but you're trying to get
at this information so pull it out of them what's the next biggest problem what's the next biggest
problem and you're asking these why because I want you to not only get the problems but I want you to
(09:41):
show them how you have already solved the similar types of problems that they just surfaced or how
you will solve those problems or will handle them in their environment and you might say well Andy
I'm asking questions should I interrupt my question asking and start talking about how
I will do that I don't care if you do it that if it's a conversation and you're kind of going back
(10:02):
and forth and the flow is good or if you're filing away this information for the next interview or
when you go talk to the hiring official's boss and you say well the hiring official said one of your
biggest obstacles is here's how I would solve it have you considered and so on and so forth this
is going to help them know that you're the right person because it isn't necessarily the person who
(10:26):
has the greatest skills or has the features so to speak that gets the job it's the person who
can articulate their fit and value but also can connect the dots for the employer that I can help
you solve those goals I've overcome the challenges that you are encountering or have encountered or
don't know how to overcome because the more the more of their specific problems you've handled
(10:50):
the more Bullseye like you look because there are a lot of people that have the requisite skills but
that all of those people can't articulate how they've actually use those skills to solve the
specific problems right they're answering generic interviewing questions you're going to get real
life data that is the more you can attack the greater the likelihood that you're going to
(11:11):
get hired because the more Niche you're going to look and more specific you're going to look to
them that you solve their exact issues okay then so we've got what the success look like what's the
single greatest obstacle standing in your way of achieving that success and then what would it be
(11:31):
worth to you and the company to have that success to achieve that goal to overcome those problems to
make your customers happier to make the internal board members stakeholders management team love
you more so this this one here is aimed at what worth value what's the value so I want you to get
(11:57):
specifically what is the value you it would be worth a million dollar in customer uh you know
re re um repeat customers it would be uh worth a million dollars in retaining customers it would
be worth whatever it would be it would help us secure future whatever get all the value that
(12:20):
it would be because you're going to make that the centerpiece of your counter offer when you
get the job offer because you're going to get the job offer when you get the job offer you're going
to be able to say you told me that was worth a million dollars you told me that if I sold $2
million that was a you know $50,000 in profit it was $500,000 in profit it's going to secure our
(12:40):
ability to it's going to make life easier for tangible intangible anything that you can grab
because this to me is playing chess right you're giving them to give you the answers that you
are then going to regurgitate back to them when you're arguing for how much you're actually worth
because they told you this was the value to them so if you're not sure what the value is you're
(13:03):
going to ask so when you get rolling remember just to recap this you've got goals problems solutions
profile and a cost if you want more on this right what every job Seeker should know about salary
negotiation check that video out as well as five ways to get paid more salary when interviewing so
(13:24):
that's the first thing first question you're going to ask is what does success best look like exactly
what is the single greatest obstacle standing in our way and what would it be worth to you and the
company to have that success kind of tight kind of quick kind of powerful so if you want more on this
I've got more videos on the YouTube channel on questions to ask in a job interview but I
(13:49):
think pound-for-pound and if you only had a couple minutes to ask the questions these are the three
I'd ask all right hope you enjoyed that if you did click the like button if you're here with me live
we're going to the chat if you're watching us on the recording I'll see you next week
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